Ardian has signed an agreement with an investor in its fund to acquire an office complex at Lützowstrasse 105/106 in the central district of Berlin from a fund managed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The property is the second investment by the Ardian Real Estate Europe Fund (AREEF) in Berlin and the fourth in Germany. The fund has assets of more than €700 million ($798 million) under management.
Built in 1974, the complex was last renovated in 2000 and fulfills modern office standards. Ardian will further modernize the office complex extensively by the end of 2019. The property is located in the direct vicinity of Potsdamer Platz and the city park at Gleisdreieck, one of Berlin’s most sought-after office locations, and has excellent connections to local public transport. The complex has approximately 30,000 square meters (320,000 square feet) of rental space and consists of a main building with six floors, an 11-story tower and a car park with more than 200 parking spaces. At present, 87 percent of the building is rented out to more than 10 companies. The long-term main tenant is the Internet provider I/P/B. A significant portion of the rental area is up for renewal or reletting in the coming years.
“The high demand for office space in central Berlin, combined with limited availability, enables significant rental and value growth potential for modern and attractive projects such as the office complex at Lützowstrasse,” said Bernd Haggenmüller, managing director of Ardian Real Estate. “We will utilize our asset management expertise to realize added value both for our investors and the tenants of the building. Berlin is well-known for its thriving and diverse business landscape and is therefore an important market for AREEF, which focuses on acquiring and developing attractive core-plus and value-add properties in key European cities. We are particularly pleased that this transaction represents the first co-investment in Germany with an investor from our real estate fund.”
Other investments made so far by Ardian Real Estate include an office building at Spichernstrasse in Berlin, the Konrad office complex and the Heinemann Bogen office complex (both located in Munich), four office buildings in Paris, and an Italian portfolio with office properties in Milan and Rome. AREEF focuses on transactions between €50 million and €150 million ($57 million and $171 million).
